178 
tion. Let hi not infift upon pledges he 
has never received; nor call, for the pay- 
ment; upon thofe, who have neither 
alked, accepted, nor been benefited by 
the loan. ‘Chat the clergy univerfally, 
the land-holders in general, and a large 
portion of the mercantile and manufac- 
turing intereft, may be confidered as par- 
ties to the contract, cannot well, FE think, 
be called in queftion. By their concur- 
rence the funding fyftem has been adopt- 
ed; by them, in their own perfons and 
the perfons of their agents, has the debt 
in queftion been contracted; and in the 
pur{uit of their ambitious and rapacious 
projects, has been accumulated the enor- 
mous burthen_under which we groan. 
The revenues of the higher orders of the 
clergy, the falaries of placemen, the per- 
quilites of office, the rent-roll of the 
free-holder,and the profits of the merchant 
and the banker, all have been extended by 
this. compact with the capitalift---this 
wholefale plundering of pofterity. No- 
thing, therefore, can be more atrocious, 
than for men of thefe. defcriptions to 
contemplate ‘‘ the open robbery of thofe - 
public creditors,’ with whofe capitals 
they have fo long been fporting. And 
yet from thefe claffes (with exception to 
the two laft, who are themfelves too 
deeply interefted,) aflifted perhaps by a 
few uncalculating enthufiafts, is the at- 
tempt to be cnet apprehended. ‘Thus 
far, your correfpondent G. C. and my- 
felf do not appear materially to differ. 
But I can by no means affent to the in- 
difcriminating propofition, that, ‘* the 
fund-holder has aright to look for his ¢a- 
pital to the whole capital of the nation; 
its lands, its fhipping, its fereign terri- 
tories, its buildings, its trade, its manu- 
factures, in a word, whatever conftitutes 
its wealth,” (including, of courfe, the 
induftry and ingenuity of its inhabi- 
tants.} ‘Fhefe, I fay, are zt all included 
in the pledge; for the defcription em- 
braces immenfe bodies of people who 
have never been benefited by the contra¢t, 
nor, by themfelves or their agents, have 
foined in the pretended fecurity; bat 
who, convinced (in the language of your 
eorrefpondent) that this © fhameful mafs 
of debt was contracted to accomplith the 
moft fhameful purpofes,” would. long 
finee have embraced the opportunity, if 
it had ever been offered, of checking the 
¢areer of this hateful fyftem of anticipa- 
tion, that beggared their pofterity to en- 
flave themfelves. But upon what found- 
dation does G.C, attempt to eftablifh his 
Claims of the National Creditor confidered. ‘ 
hypothefis of an univerfal pledge? Why; 
truly, the reafoning 1s as. futile as the’ 
conclofion is falfe.._ ‘© Since.every-man iw: 
the kingdom,”” fays-he, ‘* by paying taxes,” 
has guaranteed thefe minifterial loans, we: 
are all become partakers of the confe- 
quences, and partnersin the ats:** Might 
it net with. as much propriety be afferted, 
that I becomea partner in the act of high-” 
way robbery, by delivering my money : 
when the piftol is at my breaft?. Far be 
it from me to be fo eager a candidate for 
a folitary cell in Cold Bath-fields, as to 
draw an actual parallel between. taxation” 
_and robbery on the highway? but. the 
comparifon goes far enough to fupport- 
my-argument; and I coneern mytelf no- 
further.. Taxation, it muft be admitted, 
is not the voluntary act of the party 
taxed; andI dare fay Iam not Sngular 
when I declare, that I would never have 
paid a fingle fixpence towards the intereft 
of a debt, contracted without my confent, 
if I had not known that the laws and the 
magiftrates would compel me fo to do. It 
is not what we have fifered, but what we 
have gained, that muft involve us, by im- 
plication, ina contract to which we never’ 
affented ; and if the public creditor can- 
not proves. at leaft, a profitable and wo- 
luntary connivance, the unreprefented 
claffes have affuredly a right to refer 
him, for indemnity, to the contra¢ting 
parties. Upon thefe, indeed, his claim 
ts folid and indubitable. Thefe are the. 
real debtors; and, if the porver of rece- 
‘very its not withheld from thefe, the cre- 
ditor will have a right to profecute his 
client ; and ¢¢ if not to the laft fhilling,”” 
at leaft to {uch a compromife as may di- 
vide the lofs, refulting from their inordi- 
nate f{peculations, equally and equitably 
between them. 
This is, n brief, my opinion, as to the 
juftice and morality,of the cafe. I am 
far, however, | from confidering the pro- 
perty of the fund-holder as out of danger, 
My {fentiments, in this refpect, at prefent, 
I believe, are far from being popular 
with azy party; and under the influence 
uf what eircumftances the queftion may 
be hurried to an irrevocable. decifion; it 
is impofiible at this time to-forefee. A 
people groaning under feven and twenty 
millions of annual taxes,;may become re- 
gardlefs of every thing but their own 
emancipation ; and, confidéring the 
fhorteft road as the beft, may fhut their 
ears, in their turns, to the voice of reafon 
and the pleadings of compaffion ; ‘and-de- 
vote, by one rath act, fixty thowfand fa- 
icine _. milies 
